BC Museum: Red Merle Border Collies

THE BORDER COLLIE MUSEUM Permanent Collection

RED MERLE BORDER COLLIES

An article appeared Wednesday, March 8, 2006 on the AKC Canine Health Foundation website that the merle patterning gene has been identified by the laboratory of Dr. Keith Murphy, Professor, Department of Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of Texas A&M University. If this interests you, please click on the link above for the full article.

Note on the Color Pages: --PLEASE READ--

Up till now, I have accepted photos of people's dogs and have put them up on the appropriate pages when I have had the time. However, these pages are getting enormously large, for which there is a cost associated in both time and money (space costs). Furthermore, I have accumulated an enormous backlog of photos that I have not had time to put up, and given the size of the website in general, and the fact that I would like to expand it in other areas, I have not had the time to update the color pages.

So, sadly, I have come to the conclusion that I must cut back the existing pages by removing some photos and leaving only those that best represent particular colors or patterns; and I will no longer be accepting photos of other people's dogs for publication on this website except from time to time if a perfect example and a great photo comes along. . To those of you who have sent photos that have not yet gone up, I apologize for never having gotten to them.

Still, I have to say that I enjoy getting photos of your dogs and seeing for myself the huge variety there is in the breed. So, if you would like to continue sending me photos, and continue to correspond with me, I would like that very much, and am still available to answer any color questions you may have to the best of my ability.

Thank you for your support on the subject of color genetics in the Border Collie.

-- Carole Presberg, editor and curator, Border Collie Museum

This gorgeous red merle Border Collie is appropriately called Fire. He is 1 1/2 years old and belongs to Dawn Sandberg from Rockford, Illinois.

Deirris Eternal Flame (a.k.a., Francis), a red merle belonging to Lynn Graham from the UK. Francis' dam is a red and white Border Collie, Mobella Ruby Tuesday (a.k.a., Harris), also belonging to Lynn Graham, who appears on our page of red BCs. Frankie (as he is called "on good days") has been shown, works in TV commercials, and is trained to search for explosives.

This magnificent creature with ice-blue eyes is Matisse (Detania Shmily Matisse), shown at just over 6 months old. Matisse belongs to Paula Wright, of Haverhill, Suffolk, England. His dam is Detania Heatherbelle, and his sire is Detania Delinwood. Paula says that he is a "cheeky chappie" and that he and his sibling are permanantly trying to round her up on walks. She thinks that he is unconventional-looking and therefore not out of place on this page--what could she mean by that? Perhaps by show standards--but Matisse and the others only prove how diverse the Border Collie gene pool is when it comes to looks. In the photos below, taken at a later date, Matisse almost looks blue merle but his red nose and lips give him away.

Just when I think I've seen the ultimate beautiful red merle dog, another superb example comes along. This is Aki, a 1 1/2 year old Border Collie who belongs to Nathalie Goovaerts of Belgium.

This lovely creature is 6 year old Katie, who belongs to Andrea Russ from Portsmouth, England. Of Katie, Andres says: "Kate competes at senior level in agility and considering her handicap (me) does quiet well, but more importantly she is a wonderful pet and very much loved."

Sally is a patterned white red merle who belongs to Mary Steiert of Anchorage, Alaska. Mary was told when she adpted Sally, that Sally was an Australian Shepherd mix, but she very well could be a purebred Border Collie. Mary thought she was a "clear sable" or tan and white dog, but by now those of you reading these color pages know why Sally is not tan and white: she has a red nose! The dark patches in what looks like pale tan coloring are also red, and shows her true colors: red merle. Sally loves going on outdoor adventures in the great snowy north--look at that scenery!

This is Never (Silversage's Ever So Clever") owned by Paulena Rene Hope of West Virginia. She is a littermate of Stalker, below, and both are offspring of Fire, the dog at the top of this page.

This is Silversage's Stalker, owned by Penny Miller of Maryland. Stalker is a littermate of Never, above, and Penny is Paulena Hope's (Never's owner's) mother. Ann Marie Hill send me these photos, and from them I thought Stalker looked more blue merle than red merle! But Ann Marie insists that he is indeed red merle. She says "Stalker is definetely red merle. I have seen him in person many times and while he is mostly white, his patches are definetely red (he doesn't even have any tan). His nose his also red. Those pictures were taken in the rain." As film color can be notoriously poor, often leaning toward the blue, I tried to compensate by kicking up the red tones of the photos.

Storm ("Firestorm") belongs to Sandee Stuczynski of the High Fives Flyball Club of Mukwonago, Wisconsin. He is a son of Fire, the first red merle on this page, so he is either a brother or half-brother of Never and Stalker, above. Storm does flyball and agility, and obviously herding as well.

This gorgeous fellow is Casper, who belongs to Frank Reid.

The red merle bitch puppy on the left is called Dakota Of Maranns Home and the red merle male on the right is Falconmoor Merle Invasion, called Indy. Indy is an English import. Both beautiful dogs live in Belgium with Marnix and Christel van den Steen, who own the Border Collie kennel Of Maranns Home.

This handsome fellow is Jesse, belonging to Anne Infantino of Ipswich. He was about 7 months old when the photos were taken

This beautiful girl is Ruby, a split-faced, red merle female with one blue eye, who belongs to Phyllis Cardoza of Chatsworth, California. Ruby turned 12 years old in December of 2004, and the photo was taken the previous January.

This is Siryn, a beautiful and interestingly marked red merle female belonging to Donna Wasielewski of Austin, Texas. Of Siryn, Donna says: "Her mother was a black and white and her father was a blue merle. There was no red for 7 generations in the pedigree to the point where nobody even knew that they carried the red genes. The litter was born with 1 red and white, 1 red tri, 2 red merles, 1 blue merle, and 1 black and white. You can imagine the breederšs surprise since she was expecting all black and whites and blue merles!